It seems like some companies never learn. United Airlines is one particularly hard case. Even before this month’s public relations disaster involving video of a bloodied passenger being dragged kicking and screaming off one of the airline’s planes, United had long held disdain, or at best a deep misunderstanding of social media (remember “United Breaks Guitars”?)
In case you somehow missed the latest news, Flight 3411 was scheduled to fly from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky, when the airline decided to offer passengers cash in exchange for their seats. Apparently, four United employees needed to get to Louisville to work another flight.
When not enough passengers volunteered, officials randomly selected Dr. David Dao to be bumped to a flight the next day. The good doctor refused, and officials called upon three Chicago aviation security officers to forcefully remove the seated, booked passenger from the flight. Naturally, several other passengers onboard filmed the resultant, ugly scene.
The incident was certainly traumatic for the 69-year old physician and his family. For United, the current situation is bad, and only getting worse. As of this writing, video of the bleeding, wailing Dr. Dao has been viewed millions of times around the world, and United’s market capitalization lost $1 billion in a single day following the incident.
Even in the rapid-fire age of social media, there are some evergreen lessons to be learned from this debacle:
- Take ownership and accountability, quickly: United’s initial, knee-jerk response was to circle the wagons. In its official statements immediately following the viral dissemination of damaging video footage, the company stood by its employees and claimed Dr. Dao acted belligerently. It also claimed the flight was “overbooked”, which turned out to be false. United should have quickly taken responsibility for its employees’ poor decisions and for the aggressive actions of the Chicago aviation officers, promised an immediate investigation, and apologized sincerely to the victim and other passengers.
- Corporations don’t control the medium, or the message: Shockingly, many world-class, global corporations still pretend to live in a world without the Internet and social media. Gone are the days when a company can control what its customers and the public see or hear through a well-crafted, uni-directional marketing message. Today, organizations need to constantly monitor their social feeds and react in real time to what is being said, in a real and authentic way.
- Show your human side: Speaking of real and authentic, today’s connected consumers are looking for a touch of humanity from the people who represent the brands they choose to do business with. Corporate-speak and legalese are out; honest, empathetic engagement is in. If United’s CEO had simply come out on day one and professed both remorse and sympathy for his customer’s experience, the worst of this situation may have been contained quickly. Instead, it has dragged on for the better part of a week, morphing into a public relations disaster of epic proportions. Following his initial, tone-deaf response, United’s CEO has tried to make amends, claiming shame on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and vowing to change the company’s ingrained corporate culture for the better. United has offered refunds to all passengers on Flight 3411.
In the meantime, the 69 year-old doctor is reportedly recovering from numerous injuries sustained in the incident, including a broken nose, concussion, two lost front teeth, and damaged sinuses. But United has likely sustained worse long-term damage to its reputation and financial fortunes. According to Dr. Dao’s lawyers, he plans to sue the company very soon.